WACO, Texas - For the fourth consecutive year, Baylor's softball program has received a public recognition award from the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I Academic Performance Program for having an Academic Progress Rate (APR) score which ranks among the top 10 percent within their respective sport. It marked the third straight year that coach Glenn Moore's softball program registered a perfect APR score of 1,000 and it was again the only Big 12 softball program to receive this honor for academic excellence.

In each of the last four seasons, not only has Moore's program excelled in the classroom, it has also turned in an outstanding performance on the field, too, reaching the NCAA Tournament every year and advancing to the 2011 Women's College World Series semi-finals. The Lady Bears begin their 2014 postseason run this weekend at the Waco Regional, hosting Houston, Tulsa and Northwestern State at Getterman Stadium, May 16-18.

"We continue to be very proud of our student-athletes classroom performance," said Baylor Director of Athletics Ian McCaw. "This sustained success is a credit to the dedication of our student-athletes, academic commitment of our coaches and the outstanding work of the student-athlete services staff. Baylor's faculty members also play a key role in the academic success of our student-athletes and are to be recognized for the outstanding job they do in the classroom."

Baylor has now received 12 public APR awards in six sports--men's cross country (2006 and 2011), baseball (2007 and 2012), men's basketball (2009), men's golf (2010), women's golf (2009 and 2010) and softball (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014) since the program was instituted nine years ago.

Each year, the NCAA honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR). This announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams that demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports. Specifically, these teams posted multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.

The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team's academic performance.

In the latest NCAA APR report, based on scores from the 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years, every Baylor program registered an APR score of at least 954, no teams are subject to penalty and nine of 17 teams equaled or surpassed their 2013 APR score.

In addition to having the Big 12's top APR score in softball, Baylor baseball (No. 2), men's indoor track & field (No. 2), men's outdoor track & field (No. 2), women's golf (T-No. 3) and women's soccer (T-No. 3) all ranked among the top three among fellow conference schools.

The NCAA is scheduled to release multi-year APR scores for all Division I sports teams, May 14. That announcement will also include immediate and historical penalties for low-performing teams, as well as APRs for head coaches.